Stream 'No Coast,' from Braid's first new album in 16 years -- EXCLUSIVE

Braid signed off in 1999, the year after the release of its finest work, Frame and Canvas – leaving behind a lengthy discography and a place of honor in the emo history books. The band, originally from Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, had spent years touring relentlessly and releasing a dizzying number of songs before the strain of it all became too much. (Three-fourths of the band went on to form the incredible, underrated Hey Mercedes.)

But you never really leave something that was such a big part of you for so long, as the quartet later discovered. There was a brief reunion in 2004 to celebrate the DVD release of a film about the band’s final shows, and then a surprise EP, Closer to Closed, in 2011. Now, Braid has returned with its first full-length since Frame and Canvas, a new album whose title, No Coast, is also a rallying cry.

“The album was titled No Coast before any of the songs were written,” singer-guitarist Bob Nanna tells EW. “We used the term as guidance, not as much thematically but more in terms of work ethic: ‘Let’s work hard and not coast on autopilot or rely on our back catalog to spur interest in this new material.’”

Ahead of the album’s release on Topshelf Records July 8, EW is streaming the title track – a phenomenon that’s new to Braid (and Nanna’s other projects for that matter), whose albums have never shared titles with songs. “When we started writing this song, we found ourselves saying the words ‘no coast’ along to the opening beats, so that became its tentative title. When Chris [Broach, singer-guitarist] and I fleshed out the lyrics, we then decided to stick with the title and the theme for the song.”